A man who shouted repeated death threats following an altercation early Saturday told police he started a fire and broke a window inside a Lafayette home in an attempt to create an escape diversion, according to an arrest affidavit.

Lafayette police were called to the Lafayette Gardens Mobile Home Park, 11700 E. South Boulder Road, at 2:51 a.m. when a disturbance was reported.

According to the arrest affidavit, Vigueris Villa told police he had been using methamphetamine earlier in the day. He then got involved in an altercation with one of the five people inside the home where he was staying. On two occasions, he struck the victim in the chest with a foldable shovel. While the victim reported no bruising or injury during the first strike, the second blow knocked them into a dresser. When he raised a strip of door trim as if to hit her again, the victim wrestled the shovel away from him.

Vigueris Villa retreated to the room where he was staying and began repeatedly yelling: “I’m going to kill you,” according to the arrest affidavit. It is unclear, however, who Vigueris Villa was directing this threat at. After forcing her way into his room, one of the residents told police she saw Vigueris Villa lighting the curtains on fire and tackled him.

A neighbor who saw the disturbance helped extinguish the blaze with buckets of water. The fire was contained to the room, according to prior reporting. Lafayette police described smelling the fire from three houses away and that smoke was visible inside the home. The eastern wall of the room where Vigueris Villa was staying was scorched. Outside his window, firefighters put out a smoldering roll of paper towels.

The Lafayette Fire Department set up fans to help clear out the smoke inside of the home. Authorities also checked the home for any additional hot spots using thermal imaging.

Police found Vigueris Villa, who had run to a neighboring unit, to be in possession of a cigarette lighter, which was collected as evidence. He was taken to the Boulder County Jail, where he remains on a $50,000 bond. Vigueris Villa is scheduled for a return filing of charges on Wednesday in court, according to online records.

Vigueris-Villa has been convicted of false reporting and driving after license revocation, according to online court records.